Abundance & Scarcity

In the culture of death built upon the ancient teachings of dissent and embodied in the modern platform of deep ecology, it is a world of scarcity, and the biggest problem is too many humans.

In the culture of life, built upon the ancient teachings of the Catholic Church, it is a world of abundance, and the biggest problem is a lack of vision.

In the seminal 1982 book by Rodger Charles, S.J. & Drostan Maclaren, O.P. The Social Teaching of Vatican II: Its Origin and Development, the human capacity of our planet is noted:

“…the evidence is that sufficient food and resources are available (and will continue to be available in the future if past experience, the only rational basis for prediction, is anything to go by) to meet the needs of increase in the world’s population in the foreseeable future. This being so, the present concern with controlling population by practically any means can only be regarded as a panic reaction. Already the wilder predictions of doomsters have been proved wrong. Paul Ehrlich predicted in 1968 that hundreds of millions would starve to death in the 1970’s. Disaster on that scale did not take place—and starvation where it occurs is usually a result of human mismanagement. So far from being incapable of supporting present and future population, a responsible official of the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations has reckoned that the world’s resources would enable food production to be increased by a factor of 50 over the next century if proper steps were taken. This figure exceeds Colin Clark’s estimation that the world’s potential agricultural and forest land could supply 47 billion at American and 157 billion at Asian standards. [in his book Population Growth and Land Use (London, 1977, p.153]” (Rodger & Maclaren, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, pp.346-347)

Behind the Scenes

There is an excellent trio of stories in this article from the Harvard’s journalism center, Nieman Reports, about reporting on crime stories in depth.

An excerpt from the first story.

“In terms of trauma, the crime beat takes a different toll from some others. It’s one thing to be a war correspondent; people acknowledge that you’ve been through a whole lot. But the crime beat is often thrown on real young people and then day after day after day it chips away at them. It’s an insidious kind of numbness and little horrors that are witnessed over and over again. People cope very differently, but I’d say that the way we cover this story also affects how much trauma we’re going to experience. You can look at it as a story about how we have the innocent victim here and this horrible person over here who is a murderer or rapist. If a reporter follows that paradigm, and it probably suits the majority of reporters, they can go home and sleep at night. In fact, you’ll probably leave work early if you’re just going to write that story—good guys, bad guys. But good reporters know it’s not that simple.

“Every time there’s a gang shooting, two families, at least, are ripped apart. There are the parents of the victim who’ve lost their son or daughter and the parents of another child who’s about to go do life in prison. Very often it’s only a very fine line of fate between the two that decides which one is which. This good guy/bad guy innocent victim thing is completely blurry. And often in the same family there are victims of violence and perpetrators of it; sometimes this is the same person. So to cover this responsibly we have to dig deep. We cannot just tell the cops’ side of the story. And it’s even too easy to cover the victims’ side of the story.

“Let me give an example of how a more rounded approach can help a community, or at least get it started on a different road. We covered a gang shooting with a 19-year-old kid named Little Mando in Salinas. It was a murder in a bar, gang-related, execution style, and that is how it played out in the papers and on the television. But my co-reporter George Sánchez and I started digging around on the perpetrator’s side of the story and found out that this kid was literally raised in a gang. Since he was nine years old he was smoking pot and committing robberies; his first armed robbery was when he was 12. Everyone in this family raised him to be part of this.

“As we started doing stories about his life, we’d hear people in the community asking, “Well, gee, did Armando Frias have a choice? He was raised in this. How could he be anything else than what he was?” Other people would say, “Yeah, of course he had a choice. We have free will. There were kids faced with worse things than Armando who walked away.”

“I asked Armando if he had a choice. He said he did. But then he’d tell me that everyone in his family looked at him as soon as he was born and said, “You’re going to be just like your father. You’re going to be just like your father.” And his first words when I met him were, “I always wanted to be just like my father.”

Prayers of the Cloistered

These powerful prayers, as reported by the Catholic Anchor, provide spiritual back-up to all of the faithful in the world and especially to apostolates.

An excerpt.

“On a recent snowy morning, Blessed Sacrament Monastery in Anchorage looked especially quiet. There were no cars in the parking lot, and only a small sign on the building gave evidence of the Catholic cloister.

“But inside the hushed monastery, live a handful of cloistered nuns who are about the work of saving the world.

“They are members of the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, a cloistered religious order that was first established in 1807 in France by Blessed Mary Magdalene of the Incarnation. The order operates 85 monasteries worldwide — all are dedicated to the perpetual adoration of the Eucharistic Christ.

“Focused on Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, each nun spends her life praying and sacrificing for the good of the church and the salvation of souls.

“In a rare interview, the superior of the Alaska monastery Mother Maria de la Milagrosa spoke with the Catholic Anchor about the tremendous but largely unseen life inside a cloistered monastery.

“Speaking in her native Spanish and with the aid of an interpreter, she gave the interview from behind a metal grille in a visiting room near the monastery’s chapel.

“LIVING ONLY FOR GOD

“Motivated by the love of God, the nuns are “planting the seed for the good of souls,” Mother Maria explained. In that quiet work, rising like farmers before the rest of the world for long days, they trust God to yield a harvest which they might never see in their lifetimes.

“It is a life of faith,” in the sequestered world of the monastery, Mother Maria continued. “We don’t see the fruits, but we believe the Word of God that he will draw them out.”

“Speaking of the nuns’ mostly hidden existence, Mother Maria called it a “testimony that God is here and we live only for him.”

“It is possible to live only for God,” she stressed.”

Vatican Announcement on 2010 Pontifical Yearbook

“VATICAN CITY, 20 FEB 2010 (VIS) – This morning, Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. and Archbishop Fernando Filoni, substitute for General Affairs, presented the Holy Father with the 2010 edition of the “Annuario Pontificio” or pontifical yearbook. Also present were the officials responsible for compiling and printing the volume.

“A note concerning the presentation highlights some of the facts contained in the new volume. In 2009, the Pope erected eight new episcopal sees and one territorial prelature. Furthermore, a territorial prelature was elevated to the rank of diocese, and three prefectures to that of apostolic vicariate. A total of 169 new bishops were appointed.

“The number of Catholics in the world increased from around 1,147 million in 2007 to 1,166 million in 2008, an increase of nineteen million faithful which corresponds to a growth of 1.7 percent.

“The note also indicates that the number of bishops grew between 2007 and 2008 from 4,946 to 5,002. As for priests, both regular and diocesan, their numbers have increased over the last nine years from 405,178 in 2000 to 409,166 in 2008, although their distribution differs considerably from continent to continent. While numbers of priestly vocations are growing in Africa, Asia and America, and remain stationary in Oceania, in Europe they have dropped from 51.5 percent to 47.1 percent of the total.

“Among the pastoral workers who assist bishops and priests in their activities, female religious constitute by far the largest group. In the year 2000 they numbered 801,185 but this figure fell to 739,067 in 2008. They are most heavily represented in Europe and America (respectively, 40.9 percent and 27.5 percent of the total), and the greatest losses were on those continents and in Oceania, while in Africa and Asia their numbers grow by 21.2 percent and 16.4 percent respectively. Although this helps to counterbalance the abovementioned losses it does not cancel them out, the notes says.

“The number of candidates to the priesthood has also grown slightly, from 115,919 in 2007 to 117,024 in 2008. Here too the different continents show a different evolution: Africa, Asia and Oceania grew by, respectively, 3.6 percent, 4.4 percent and 6.5 percent. Europe registered a fall of some 4.3 percent, while the situation in America remained unchanged.”

Chair of Peter

Monday was the feast day of the Chair of Peter, our Holy Father, and the posting by American Catholic reminds us of the history of the purely human occupant of this seat created by God to lead the Church on earth.

An excerpt.

“This feast commemorates Christ’s choosing Peter to sit in his place as the servant-authority of the whole Church.

“After the “lost weekend” of pain, doubt and self-torment, Peter hears the Good News. Angels at the tomb say to Magdalene, “The Lord has risen! Go, tell his disciples and Peter.” John relates that when he and Peter ran to the tomb, the younger outraced the older, then waited for him. Peter entered, saw the wrappings on the ground, the headpiece rolled up in a place by itself. John saw and believed. But he adds a reminder: “..[T]hey did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead” (John 20:9). They went home. There the slowly exploding, impossible idea became reality. Jesus appeared to them as they waited fearfully behind locked doors. “Peace be with you,” he said (John 20:21b), and they rejoiced.

“The Pentecost event completed Peter’s experience of the risen Christ. “…[T]hey were all filled with the holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4a) and began to express themselves in foreign tongues and make bold proclamation as the Spirit prompted them.

“Only then can Peter fulfill the task Jesus had given him: “… [O]nce you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32). He at once becomes the spokesman for the Twelve about their experience of the Holy Spirit—before the civil authorities who wished to quash their preaching, before the council of Jerusalem, for the community in the problem of Ananias and Sapphira. He is the first to preach the Good News to the Gentiles. The healing power of Jesus in him is well attested: the raising of Tabitha from the dead, the cure of the crippled beggar. People carry the sick into the streets so that when Peter passed his shadow might fall on them.

“Even a saint experiences difficulty in Christian living. When Peter stopped eating with Gentile converts because he did not want to wound the sensibilities of Jewish Christians, Paul says, “…I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong…. [T]hey were not on the right road in line with the truth of the gospel…” (Galatians 2:11b, 14a).”

Innocence Commissions

The concept, as being utilized in North Carolina and reported by the Raleigh News Observer, is an excellent idea.

In a world of human error—which in the criminal justice system can be disastrous—any back-up to the system that is effective, is something that should be replicated.

An excerpt.

“RALEIGH — As Greg Taylor finds his way back into a changed world 17 years after being wrongfully convicted of murder, the fledgling state agency that made his freedom possible is adjusting to a different way of life, too.

“The phones have been ringing constantly at the N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission since it won its historic first case last week. Dozens of e-mail messages have come in to the seven-member staff on behalf of people who think they, too, have been wrongfully convicted.

“This just shows that the process the state created works,” Executive Director Kendra Montgomery-Blinn said Friday. “I think we’re going to see commissions in other states now.”

“The Innocence Inquiry Commission, the first of its kind in the country, was created in 2006 after several high-profile cases of wrongful convictions raised questions about the criminal justice system. The wrongfully convicted can appeal their verdicts, but their claims generally are limited to technical problems at the trial level, not claims of innocence. The commission has legal authority and powers to delve into such claims and then put them before a panel of judges that can grant immediate freedom.

“The reason we created this was because we all knew the legal system operates under the presumption of guilt once you’re convicted,” said Richard Rosen, a UNC-Chapel Hill law professor who helped create the commission. “This is a safety valve.”

Bishops & Leadership

The character of organizations very often devolves from the character of their leadership and for several decades the leadership of the American Catholic Church has been largely absent; resulting in the wolves running free as horribly witnessed through the sexual abuse scandals still unfolding, and the decades-long aligning with secular interests which degraded the staunch stand for Catholic teaching traditionally marking the episcopacy.

Human life International notes a refreshing change, and we should always remember that Peter asks us to pray for our bishops that they may lead the Church in full communion with him.

An excerpt.

“Ought we rejoice in Lent? Well, Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Oregon, has given us the absolute best reason to rejoice in a penitential season: he yanked the title “Catholic” from a hospital in his diocese that refuses actually to be Catholic. What a refreshing development in episcopal leadership! In fact, Lent is probably the perfect time for such an act to take place because it is an exercise of discipline and courage, which we love to see in our prelates. Bishops who are true shepherds, and not politicians, strengthen us and enliven our faith – thank you, Bishop Vasa!…

“In serving an international mission like HLI, I have a privileged chance to see many bishops around the world who actually do the right thing when the terms of their office require it, and their churches are generally vibrant and faithful because of their strong leadership. There are just a handful of bishops in the technologically-sophisticated western world, however, who exhibit the resolute moral courage that is required to remove the title of “Catholic” from an institution that is in rebellion against the authentic Faith; even fewer who have the guts to discipline a public figure who betrays the Faith in favor of his own leftist values. (Vice President Joe Biden, by the way, appeared in public on Wednesday with ashes on his forehead….) Yet, there is a growing trend in the United States toward greater episcopal strength and orthodoxy, and we have to applaud it when we see it because these bishops will be severely attacked and will need our support.”

Compstat Works

Following up on yesterday’s post, this article from City Journal examines the latest attack on Comstat—or Compstat—and demolishes it in the process.

An excerpt.

“The crime analysis and accountability system known as Compstat, developed by the New York Police Department in 1994, is the most revolutionary public-sector achievement of the last quarter-century. Since its inception, Compstat has driven crime in New York down an astounding 77 percent; veterans of the Compstat-era NYPD who have gone on to run police departments elsewhere have replicated its successes. Other government agencies, both in New York and nationally, have applied the Compstat model to their own operations, using minutely analyzed data to hold managers accountable for everything from improvements in public health to decreases in welfare dependency to road repairs.

“Now, however, a survey of retired NYPD commanders by two criminologists purports to cast doubt on the wisdom of Compstat. Compstat has undermined the reliability of the NYPD’s crime-reporting system, say former John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor Eli Silverman and Molloy College professor John Eterno. Weekly meetings in which top brass grill precinct commanders about crime on their watch place too much pressure on the commanders, resulting in data manipulation, the professors charge. “Those people in the Compstat era . . . felt less pressure to maintain the integrity of the crime statistics,” Eterno told the New York Times. “The system provides an incentive for pushing the envelope,” Silverman added. Silverman and Eterno anonymously asked several hundred retired NYPD captains if they were “aware” of instances of commanders changing crime data. About half of the survey respondents (157 of 309) said that they were aware of changes to crime reports. A follow-up question asked whether the changes were ethically appropriate. Of the 160 respondents who answered, 22.5 percent thought that the changes were ethical, while 53.8 percent believed that the changes were highly unethical.

“Critics of the NYPD have seized gleefully on the study, which has not yet been publicly released. The New York Times obligingly wrote it up on its front page and followed up with several articles on the topic.

“NYPD foes can put away their party hats. Nothing in the survey discredits Compstat or its crime-fighting accomplishments. Eterno’s claim about a decreased emphasis on crime-data integrity in the Compstat era is demonstrably false. It is ludicrous to suggest that a department where the top brass did not even get crime data until six months after the crime and then did nothing with them—as was the case in the pre-Compstat era—cared more about the accuracy of crime statistics than one in which every deployment decision is made based on the minute-by-minute reality of crime on the streets. Nor does the study, which has several design flaws, cast any doubt on the city’s record-breaking crime drop. Given the enormous efforts that the NYPD makes to ensure the validity of its statistics, the study ultimately comes down to a dangerous argument against accountability systems per se.”

Broken Windows & Comstat, The Beginning

Broken windows—or quality of life—policing, mandates that even the lowest level crime is addressed, like the broken windows in abandoned buildings, as blight leads to criminal penetration.

Broken windows policing led to Comstat, the idea of crime mapping and focusing resources at points of highest crime, which seems so logical, but had never been done.

It was done by a New York City transit cop, who ultimately became second in command to the Commissioner, and their development and deployment of Comstat has revolutionized policing in America.

Here is an interview with that transit cop.

An excerpt.

“Short of stature — about 5-foot-7 — and rotund, 46-year-old Jack Maple is given to wearing two-tone shoes, striped shirts, bow-ties and a homburg hat. But don’t let his taste in clothing fool you. He cut his stylistic teeth in New York City’s hot lunch spots, while cutting his professional teeth underground, in what New York’s finest derisively refer to as the caves.

“The caves are the New York subways — once considered as dangerous a place as any in the world. In the 1980s, Maple was an aggressive transit cop who moved up to the rank of transit lieutenant. When he got tired of responding to crime instead of fighting it, he went home and put his unschooled but analytical mind to work.

“I called them the Charts of the Future. On 55 feet of wall space, I mapped every train station in New York City and every train,” Maple recently explained. “Then I used crayons to mark every violent crime, robbery and grand larceny that occurred. I mapped the solved vs. the unsolved.”

“Later, when William Bratton was hired by the Transit Police to cut crime, Maple showed him the charts, and between 1990 and 1992 they cut felonies in the caves by 27 percent and robberies by a third.

“In 1994, when Bratton was appointed by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to head the NYPD, the new commissioner made the flamboyant Maple his second-in-command. The move, likened to promoting a Navy ensign to admiral, ruffled many feathers. But using computerized Charts of the Future, precinct commanders were held accountable for crimes in their area. For the first time that anyone could remember, crime in New York City began to decline.

“COMSTAT was born. COMSTAT is a process by which crime statistics are collected, computerized, mapped and disseminated quickly. Officers are held responsible for the crime in their areas, and all crimes, including the “quality of life” infractions like loitering or public intoxication, are pursued aggressively. The program has become the talk of squad rooms nationwide.”

Anglicans Becoming Catholics

In what will possibly become a flood, the stream of Anglicans seeking union with the Church grows, as this story from the Telegraph notes.

An excerpt.

“Forward in Faith Australia, part of the Anglo-Catholic group that also has members in Britain and America, is setting up a working party guided by a Catholic bishop to work out how its followers can cross over to Rome.

“It is believed to be the first group within the Anglican church to accept Pope Benedict XVI’s unprecedented offer for disaffected members of the Communion to convert en masse while retaining parts of their spiritual heritage.

“So far only the Traditional Anglican Communion, which has already broken away from the 70 million-strong Anglican Communion, has declared that its members will become Catholics under the Apostolic Constitution.”